Door catch to hold the door open



P. FRANTZ. DOOR CATCH T0 HOLD'THE DOOR OPEN.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 28,1919.

Patented Mar. 7, 1922.

UNITED STATES Parent orrice.

PETEE, FRANTZ, 0F STERLING, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 FRAN'IZ MANUFACTURING00., OF STERLING, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION Q ILLINOIS.

DOOR CATCH TO HOLD THE DOOR OPEN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mal *2, 1922.

Application filed March 28, 1919. Serial No. 285,876.

To all whom it may concern.-

l ie it known that I, Pn'rnn FnAN'rz, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica and a resident of Sterling, county of lVhiteside, State ofIllinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Door(latches to Hold the Doors Open, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to devices for holding a door in open position,and more particularly to devices of this kind which are adapted tor useon garage or barn doors, or for similar purposes.

Generally stated, the object of the invention is to provide a novel andsimple device, of this general character. which can he inexpensivelymanufactured, which will be strong; and serviceable in use, and whichwill he more satisfactory than the devices heretofore employed for thispurpose.

ll; isalso an object to provide certain details and features ofconstruction tending to increase the general efficiency and thedesirability oi a door catch or holder of this particular character.

To these and other useful ends the invention consists in mattershereinafter set forth and claii'ned. andshown in the accompanyingdrawings, in which Fin. 1 is a plan of a door equipped with a. catch orholding deviceonibodying the principles of the invention, showing theadjacent portions of the door frame in horizontal section, andshowingthe door in open position.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the door closed.

Fig, 3 is a front elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1, viewed atan angle o'l forty five degrees to the length of the catch or holdingdevice which holds the door in open position.

Fig. l is a side elevation, on a larger scale, ol the end of the holderwhich has the catch.

Fig. 5 a horizontal section on line 5--5 in Fig. 4.

Fig. (i is a longitudinal section of the pivoted end portion of thedevice.

Fig. 7 is a transverse vertical section on line. 7-7 in Fig. 4:.

Fig. 8 is a plan of the end portion shown in Fig. 6.

9 is a perspective of the bracket bv which the device pivoted on thedoor.

As thus illustrated, the door 1. may he hinged to the door-frame 2 inany suitable or desired manner. A bracket plate 3 is secured to theupper portion or the door; in any suitable manner, on the inner surfacethereof. A long arm at formed of sheet metal and made hollow, so thatits interior is open at the bottom and whereby it o't' inverted U-shapein cross section, is formed at one end with integral portions 0 whichengage the openings 6 in the ears '7 of said bracket plate. A longlocking bar 8 is pivoted at 5.) within the arm 1, this pivot 9 beingnearer the pivotal port-ions 5 than the'other end of the arm. so thatthe notches 10 tormed in the side walls of the arm near its free endportion normally expose the free end of said bar. A chain 11 is attachedat 12 to the shorter end portion of said bar 8, whereby the longer endof the bar may be pulled upward. A stationary bracket plate 13 issecured to the under side of the door-frame, in about the positionshown, ant is provided with a guide opening lat having side notches 15.and the arm 4 slides endwise in said open inn when the door is openedand closed. The tree end. portion of the arm is provided with a sort oihead havinga depending por tion 16 which latter will engage, the loweredge portion of the opening lat and thereby prevent the completewithdrawal of the arm from the plate 13, when the door is opened. lnother words, the head formed by the depending portion 16 and the upperportion 17 at the end of the arm is too large to pass through theopening 14:, when the parts are inworking relation to each other; but inassembling the ditlerout elements, and he- 'tore the parts are securedto the door and the door-trame. the plate 13 is turned sidewise untilthe portions 16 and 17 can pass through the notches. 15, and then theplate is turned around sothat the arm 4 will rest cdgewise upon thelower edge of said opening 14 in the stationary bracket plate.

hen the dooris opened, the arm 4 slides outwardly through the opening14, until the portion 16 strikes the lower edge of said opening. and theend of the bar 8 then drops below said edge at the opposite side of theplate, so that this edge portion of the plate is held between theportion 16 and the adja (cent end of the pivoted bar. It will be seenthat the notch 10 is long and sloping at one side, so that the arm 4Lwill move downward a little before the portion 16 strikes the lower edgeoi the opening i l, the pivotal portions 5 being slightly loose in thebracket plate 3 for this purpose. This will loclr the door in openposition, inasmuch as any ei'fort to close the door will be resisted bythe bar 8 which engages the lower portion of the bracket plate 13, thuseffectively holding the door in open position. l Vhen it is desired toclose the door, a pull on the chain 11 will lift the longer end of thebar 8 out of engagement with the lower portion of the bracket plate 13,so that the arm can then slide endwise in the opening 14:, in a mannerthat will be readily understood. i l hen the door is opened, the doorholder occupies the position shown in Fig. 1, and when the door isclosed, the catch or holding device then occupies the position shown inFig. 2. It will be seen, of course, that the bracket plate 18 can bepositioned as shown in the drawings, or that it can be turned andsecured in a position which will bring it more nearly at right angles tothe arm 4- whon the door is open, the opening 14: being much wider thanthe thickness of the arm, so that the latter can swing sidewise in saidopening, as well as move endwise therein.

ith this construction, therefore, the arm 4t merely slides back andforth endwise in the opening 14, and the unlatching or releasing (lilitlle door is accomplished merely by opcrating the bar 8 which isenclosed within said arm. The bar 8 can be made light enough to beeasily lifted, when it is desired to close the door, and at the sametime of si'l'llicient stiffness to serve the desired. purpose. This barcan be quite thin, in fact, without danger of bending or buckling,because it is enclosed between the two side walls of the arm 4, whichlatter serves as a housing for said bar.

It will be understood that the door can be provided with spring hinges,or with matically close the door after it is released from its openposition.

i l hat I claim as my invention is l. in a device for holding a swingingdoor in open position, the combination of an arm, means to pivotallymount the arm on the swinging door, so that said arm may swinghorizontally relatively to the door, a guide secured to the stationaryframe of the doorway, aid arm sliding endwisein said guide and swinginghorizontally and relatively thereto, under the top of the doorway, whenthe door is opened and closed, a latch 1novably mounted on said arm toengage said. guide, thereby to hold the door open, and. means dependingfrom said arm and a dapted for controlling said latch to release thedoor from open position, so that the arm may slide cndwise through theguide to permit closing of the door.

A. structure as specified in claim 1, said.

arm being formed from sheet metal to pro vide a hollow interiortherefor, and said latch comprising a long bar disposed within saidhollow arm, and a pivot for supporting the bar at a point between thedoor and the middle portion of the bar, whereby the longer end. of thebar tends to gravitate into latching position when the door is opened,said guide having this lower portion formed to engage this end of thebar, and said con.-

trolling means being attached to the shorter end of the bar, whereby thelonger end. of the bar lifted to release the door from the open positionthereof.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1, said arm being of sheet metaland formed with a head having a depending portion to engage the guide,thereby to limit the opening of the door, and said guide having means topermit the complete withdrawal of the arm therefrom, by relativedisplacement of the guide and arm sufficiently to permit said head topass out from the guide, substantially as shown and described.

PETER rnanrz.

